Schoolbus driver, woman attendant held guilty in KG girl’s rape

Bhopal: A special Pocso court in Bhopal on Saturday convicted a schoolbus driver and a female attendant in the rape of a kindergarten child in the bus on September 8. The court will declare the punishment on Monday.Additional district prosecution officer Manoj Tripathi said that special Pocso court judge Shailja Gupta on Saturday convicted Hanumat Jatav, 32, and Urmila Sahu, 40, in the schoolbus rape case registered against them at Mahila Thana.He said police submitted the chargesheet in court within 20 days of registering the case and the prosecution counsel recorded the statements of 32 witnesses in 14 working days.Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who was keeping tabs on the case all through, expressed satisfaction over the conviction.The survivor, a three-and-a-half-year-old, was raped by her bus driver in the presence of a woman attendant in the vehicle in Bhopal in September this year. The incident sent shockwaves through the country.On CM Chouhan’s orders, an FIR was registered against the school chairman, principal and two senior officials as well. An SIT was set up to probe the case. The case against the school officials is proceeding separately. They have been booked under Section 21 of Pocso Act for not informing police about the sexual abuse, and under IPC section 188 for not following the directives of the transport commissioner issued on the basis of Supreme Court guidelines for schoolbus safety.